A terribly misfortunate young girl, trying to avoid being whisked away by a demon, is confronted by the guardian of a mystical graveyard. Can the living love the formerly living? Can you call what he had a life?

This is the tale of Monster and man; a tale of the love between human, and something not quite. Our tale takes place in an old abandoned church, now inhabited by a family of five. The girl of which I am about to speak is one of these, in fact.

The wind howled outside the window, causing the girl to jump.

"He-hello?" called Helena. She was trembling through her thin nightgown, and her knuckles were white from clutching the flashlight too hard. All around her was the darkness of the lack of electricity.

When nothing answered her call, Helena relaxed. Taking a deep breath, she began to try to reassure herself that everything was perfectly fine.

'Don't worry,' She thought. 'Mom and Dad will be home soon, and they'll know how to fix the power. Everything will be fine.'

Suddenly, though, the lights flickered on, surprising Helena. As a result, she dropped her flashlight. It landed with a 'Crack!' on the ground. The lights then flickered back off. Apparently, Helena's flashlight had turned itself off as well, for there was no light in the dark corridor.

"Crap!" muttered Helena, getting down on her knees and blindly reaching about, trying to grab the flashlight. All she wanted to do was to get the chapel part of the house so that she could wait for her family to get home and fix the power. So far, however, Helena's plan was only making her nervous and jumpy. She was alone in the dark hallway, and since it was only her second day her new home (Formerly a church) she didn't even know if she was going the right direction.

Helena's hand grabbed the flashlight. For a second, she merely held it with fingers that trembled. Then, she picked it up and flicked the 'on' switch.

Nothing.

Either the batteries had run out or it was broken. Helena could feel the color drain out of her face. She was alone in the dark now. Desperately she flicked the switch, but nothing happened. She tried until she thought her thumb would bleed from pressed the switch. But her efforts were all in vain. The flashlight wouldn't work.

Standing up, Helena looked at her surroundings mistrustfully. She could hardly see. The rain outside made it so that even the light from the outside was practically nonexistent. Helena braced herself before taking a step forwards.

"It's okay," she muttered to herself. "It's alright."

But in truth, it wasn't. Poor Helena was scared half out of her wits. She hated the dark. She had to sleep with a night-light every night, although she would never admit it. The truth was, Helena felt trapped in the dark. She couldn't see more than one foot ahead of herself, and she didn't want to risk going into the darkness. But she couldn't turn back. It was her firm belief that one should never turn their back on the darkness. It might play cruel tricks on you.

Taking another step forwards, Helena scanned what she could see of her surroundings thoroughly. She couldn't see anything suspicious.

Thunder rang out in the dark, empty house. Helena jumped, sure for a second that the creature of her nightmares was here at last to collect his due. However, a quick survey of the area around her told Helena that she was still alone.

They always told her to be careful. He would come on a dark, stormy night, Helena's grandmother had said. He would creep soundlessly along the halls, like a ghost. And she must always lock her doors on rainy nights, or else he would let himself in with perfect ease and shut the door behind him. Helena had been afraid to sleep for days after that.

Her promised husband was a monster. When she was merely four, Helena had been offered to a demon to appease his wrath against her family. Since that day, everyone had always had always told her to be careful, because one day he would come for her. Since the night she was offered as the bride of a monster, Helena had feared the dark. Nothing could cure her phobia. They sent her to a doctor, but to no avail. He told them that Helena would have to overcome it on her own.

But as Helena stood, shaking, it was clear that she was not ready for such a big step. The darkness loomed ahead, like a devil waiting to devour her. She slowly took another step forwards, cringing as though she expected the world to end.

She never wanted to meet the thing she was promised to. The stories Helena had been told were fearsome enough; she certainly didn't need to see the monster that had generated the stories. He supposedly had skin as tough as iron that was very hot to the touch. His face was constantly red, and his teeth were overly large and protruded from his mouth. Helena shuddered thinking about it as she took a deep breath and began to jog forwards

Helena darted along, never looking behind her. She was sure he was following her. He'd be there if she turned around, Helena decided. But if she ignored him, maybe he would go away. And perhaps he would never come back.

'That would be lovely,' Thought Helena. 'I want to be free from all of this. I want to be free of Mother's depression, Anna's anxiety, Rueben's defiance, and Father's denial. Maybe I can bring our family back together, if I just send away the Monster.'

Suddenly, Helena stopped dead. Just in front of her was the door to the chapel. She let out a sigh of relief. She had made it, and she was still safe. Surely the devil wouldn't enter a holy place?

The doors opened with an ominous creak. Helena stepped forwards, looking around her. The room wasn't horribly large, just enough so that there were six large pews on each side of the aisle. The carpet was a muted green color, and the walls were plain white. There were pictures of religious icons everywhere, as well and flowers and wreaths and copies of the Bible in many different languages.

Helena let out the breath she had been holding. She felt safer in the chapel. It was so peaceful and calm…

She walked towards the stained glass window on the opposite wall. It depicted a rainbow. Even without the light, it looked enchanting to Helena. When she was close enough to touch it, that's what she did.

Until Helena heard 'the noise.'

There was a room to Helena's left. It protruded from the wall and had no roof. If was supposedly a storage room. Helena had been instructed never to go in there. However, she could have sworn she heard the rustling of fabric.

Reaching out, Helena's hand caressed the freezing doorknob. Her mind was racing. Was there really someone in there? What if it was the monster? Maybe it was a serial killer! Should she open it, or not? Helena couldn't decide.

Until she could have sworn she heard a muffled sigh coming from the inside. Helena tightened her grip on the doorknob. She was breathing rapidly, prepared for anything, With a sudden yank, she jerked the door open and jumped back.

The sight that greeted Helena's eyes was not what she expected.

A young man was standing in front of what appeared to be a coffin draped in lace. His eyes were the color of dying embers, a distinct red-orange. His lips were tinted blue. His hair was black as midnight and was cut rather sloppily, chin length in front and uneven shoulder length in back. His nails weren't terribly long; however, they weren't short either. He had a sad look on his face, as though he had just been mourning.

Helena tried to find the words to speak, but couldn't. She opened and closed her mouth, unsure of the appropriate words.

"I-I-," she started, but couldn't get any further. The boy turned to face her. He was wearing what appeared like royal robes, which were white with a red overlay. His calm eyes bore deeply into Helena's.

Suddenly lightening lit up the small room in which the boy stood. The minute it disappeared, so did the boy. Helena was staring at the empty space before the coffin, mouth wide open.

She didn't turn around as the door banged open.

"Helena!" cried her Father. "Sorry we're so late. Is there a blackout or something? Helena? What's the matter? Helena? At least turn and face me."

With that, Helena fell to her knees, eyes wide open in shock. What had she just witnessed? Was that boy the monster she was promised to? Was he a spirit? Why was there a coffin in the other room?

Helena couldn't answer even one of those questions.

Okay. I'm using this part to give my authors commentary.

I am not ripping off phantom of the opera, even though it might seem similar. I thought if this while I was watching a movie called 'Mortuary.' For some reason, that movie made me think of the song 'living dead girl.' And I was all, 'Cool! Living dead guy and living dead girl! They should be together in a macabre love!'

So I started to think along those lines. I already had the boy's character in my head. So I thought, 'I'll make him someone perfect to be with!'

Viola. The story of a morbid mind is born.

Also, this takes place in modern time. I wanted to write with an old fashioned style, and I thought it would suit the storyline better. Sorry if it confused you.

Please review. I want to make this the best it can ever be. Constructive criticism is very welcome. I'm hoping to be a well-known authoress some day, so I need all the advice I can get.

Thank you for reading thus far.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.